Sounds From The Ground - Widerworld

Waveform Records: 2012

I relaunched this blog four years and eleven months ago. Can you guess how many Sounds From The Ground albums I had at the time? None. None of their albums is how many I had on October 2012. I barely even had two of their tracks, Triangle and Gather, the latter by way of an earlier Elliot Jones project called Path. Including this particular release, I now have eight of their albums. In that time since, Sounds From The Ground released a ten track, twenty year retrospective called 20 Years Of The Best. Naturally, most of those have been given an Ace Track honour (such prestige!), yet I could make a double-LP playlist of SFtG Ace Tracks alone. If you'd have told me I'd be a Sounds From The Ground 'expert' after five years of doing this, I'd have laughed at the notion I'd still be doing this five years later. Surely it'd only take a couple years to review my entire music collection, not a half-decade.

Sans that 'best of', Widerworld is thus far the last album Jones and Nick Woolfson released on Waveform Records, the duo having since gone with their own Upstream Records print for new music distribution. Maybe they'll return to Waveform at a later date, but three albums deep now in the independent domain, and I think they're quite satisfied with how Upstream's doing. Ooh, they even rolled out a vinyl option for their latest effort, Alchemy!

As for this particular album, I mentioned in their previous one, The Maze, that SFtG were showing signs of evolving their ambient dub sound. True, it was an achingly sluggish evolution, but the change was at least noticeable, making more use of modern dub production over the staunch traditionalist stuff most associate with '90s trip-hop. Widerworld carries that on, though as we're still dealing with Sounds From The Ground, the sonic development still moves forward at a glacial pace. Fans wouldn't have it any other way, I reckon.

What stood out the most for me on this album were the tracks that almost sounded like Jones and Woolfson were cribbing a little from other acts. Yeah, you could make that claim about a lot of their work – comparisons to Kruder & Dorfmeister are inevitable – but I'm talking outside the usual assortment of name-dropped downtempo producers.

For instance, the track Hunters utilizes a few dubbed-out sounds that have me recalling Future Sound Of London at their dubbiest. Raining Leaves has gentle synth pads and bloopy chill acid that wouldn't have sounded out of place on older Aphex Twin in his more whimsical moments. Fields Of Green And Yellow almost has a laid-back country vibe with its acoustic guitar work, but those additional synth notes in the back-half are pure Sounds From The Ground vibe. And Ink Spots... eh, there's probably some glitchy dubstep guy out there that I could compare to, but I'm lazy in confirming it.

Chronos - When Mars Meets Venus (Part 2: Venus)

Altar Records: 2012

No, I can't let this go, not when it still bugs me. I know for centuries Venus was thought of as a jewel in the morning and evening skies, a bright beacon of light outshining all other stars in a vast sea of black. It's only natural that the Ancients would associate beauty and grace as it wandered across the Zodiac. However, science has taught us that while Venus may look lovely from afar, it's anything but pretty and tranquil. Temperatures that can melt lead, thick sulphuric acid clouds blotting out sunlight, yet an atmosphere of vast amounts of carbon dioxide holding in heat for a runaway global greenhouse. Vast volcanic plains. Crushing pressures. And what's up with that rotation, slowly spinning backwards relative to the other planets in our system? That just ain't right at all! If musicians were honest in their odes to Venus, they wouldn't make music of beauty and grace, but of Hellfire and glitchy, noisy mess.

Anyhow.

The whole Mars/Venus dichotomy is essentially a celestial version of yin and yang, an easy concept for artists to showcase two sides of their muse. That Chronos needed to explore it across two separate albums suggests a bit of the ol' hubris at work, but hashing out just another album for Altar Records probably didn't seem all that appealing. Mr. Klimenko was already a five year vet in the psy scene by the time these came out, with plenty of music already released to his name. If DJ Zen is giving you carte blanche to let your creativity do the rockwilda', then have at you.

As When Mars Meets Venus: Part 2 is the 'Venus' album, it's mostly a chill, ambient one compared to Part 1: Mars. You sure wouldn't know it from the opening track though, Leaving Gaia featuring full orchestral arrangements, thundering percussion, and operatic choirs. Did we stumble into a fantasy epic somehow? Ooh, space opera, mayhaps!

But nay, we're in full-on ambient territory for much of this album's duration, tracks lasting an average of eight to eleven minutes apiece. It's mostly of a lush, soaring sort, thick timbres of pad work and spacey samples thrown in for added flavor. Red Planet goes a little more menacing (because Mars iz warz), Venus Eyes does a mysterious build before settling on a bit of quaint, affable melody (getting a Solar Fields vibe here), while Soaring In The Abyss and Galactic Winter add some Berlin-School pulsing synth rhythms to the fray. Dark Flame Landing is clearly the centrepiece of this album though, with the longest track duration and a return of the thundering percussion for its back-half. All that's missing is the appropriate film epic accompanying it.

Still, Part 2: Venus may be too ambient overall for most casual followers of psy-chill. Though Chronos does maintain a strong sense of grandeur throughout, it's also a rather singular journey, and folks needing 'd'em riddims' may not be up for the ride. Those who are though, hoo!

Chronos - When Mars Meets Venus (Part 1: Mars)

Altar Records: 2012

It's been two years since I dived into Altar Records' discography with abandon, reviewing their compilations and albums from acts like AstroPilot and... Um, okay, it was mostly all AstroPilot, with a smattering of one-shots from other acts. Chronos in particular though, I name-dropped often, someone who's chance to properly shine on this blog was coming. Um, I'm a little behind schedule on that part. His Helios album was a nice tide-over, but more of a dessert to the main course Chronos contributed to Altar's catalogue, a two album concept release titled When Mars Meets Venus.

Not that other artists on Altar didn't release LPs in rapid succession either. The relatively unknown psy-trance project Monkey Machine put out a pair the year prior, and another early Altar work-horse, C.J. Catalizer, had a steady clip of records too (to say nothing of AstroPilot, but y'all must be getting weary of that constant name-drop). None of them explored a specific theme across two records though, with each part reflecting a different aspect of their muse. When Mars Meets Venus not only cemented Chronos' place in psy-chill's pantheon of skillful musicians, but also helped establish Altar as more than 'just another psy label', showing a willingness in letting artists indulge themselves if they had the songcraft backing it up. The label's had some difficulty reaching that creative high ever since, sans He I Promised Not To Mention Again.

Part 1 focuses on the Mars perspective, which generally translates to an uptempo, 'aggressive' side of things. My inner astronomer can't help but balk at this (Mars is by far the more placid planet when compared to Venus' Hell-fire), but I'm confronting centuries of accepted, artistic lore. Thus we get your steady-pace prog-psy numbers like Leaving Gaia and... uh, actually, there's not much standard four-to-the-floor beatcraft found here. For sure the BPM is of a medium pace throughout, but Mr. Klimenko seems adamant in eschewing convention in favour of whatever broken-beat he can throw in. Arkturus (red bodies unite!) goes for a minimalist ambient techno thing, I think Hi Tech Mosaic is in another time signature than 4/4 (I'm no expert), Sequenced Engine alternates between chunky thumps and bleepy shuffling, and Zirda defiantly messes up the standard prog-psy pace. And wait, is that a touch of the 'wub-wub' I hear in Broken Song? Chronos, how dare you!

Detailing all the fine beatcraft on here would take forever, and that's not even getting into all the lovely melodies and ear-wormy passages too. Shining Parallel World comes rather close to aping classic Orbital, Lullaby For The Little Robot is all sorts of quaint and twee, and Pain Feedback sure wants to get its prog rock on. There's so much going on with Part 1, it feels like the album never ends, lasting much longer than its recorded time-stamp. It's an album that needs repeated listens to digest it all, but with a feast this grand, you can't help but return to the buffet for more.

Porya Hatami - Land

Somehow Recordings/Inner Ocean Records: 2012/2013

This is the other CD I picked up from Inner Ocean Records’ Bandcamp, completing my collection of Inner Ocean Records CDs as available through the label’s Bandcamp. And if I do some serious hunting and digging, I could get all the CDs the Calgary print released, including Jarrod Sterling’s Distance Is Relative, Void Of Sound’s Black_White, and a remix album of this particular disc too. There might be more, but Lord Discogs doesn’t suggest any, so I’ll take it that’s all Inner Ocean made before transitioning to tape production and the occasional vinyl. I wonder what the cost-ratio with tapes is like. I’ll assume it’s cheaper than CDs, but seeing as how the discs are already pretty darn cheap, it can’t be by much. Is there more of a profit margin on tapes now that they have much greater hipster cred’ than in decades past, folks willing to pay more than the ‘free handout’ price of before? Land of confusion indeed.

Speaking of land, here is Porya Hatami’s debut album, Land. This version on Inner Ocean is actually a reissue, the first coming out a year prior on Somehow Recordings, yet another ambient micro-label that released well over one-hundred items between 2010 and 2013, all on CD. Holy cow! Most of their material is totally new to my eyes, though a couple familiar names do crop up, among them Lee Norris’ Nacht Plank guise. Say, is that where he and Mr. Hatami first crossed paths?

Porya’s style of ambient is mostly defined by his manipulation of field recordings coupled with a delicate touch of glitch-static, soft pads, gentle pianos, twee chimes, and other manner of minimalist melodica. He even released an album called The Garden, with track titles naming off the tiny animal fauna one might find there. Land is obviously larger in scope, but even here ol’ Porya takes a moment to gaze at the very small, with closing track Bug. The melody used in this one sounds as though it could have been sampled from a toy box, including some of the creaking wood one might hear when opening it. Or that could just be recordings played in reverse. It’s all rather abstract, Mr. Hatami aiming for mood over imagery, though I do often feel like I’m chilling by a river or in a field while this plays.

Eight tracks of around six to seven minutes feature in Land, each touching upon a different idea while following a similar structure. Some go super cutesy and tender (Autumn, Sea, Snow), others more droning and abstract (Rain, Storm), and sometime they’ll mesh the two approaches (River, Winter). It all does sound rather similar though, the sort of minimal ambient that navel gazes into its micro-glitch effects to such a degree that it seldom focuses on anything of substance for long, beyond the general tone maintained. Land is a nifty little album for those who appreciate ambient’s form over its function, but does get lost in the background rather easily too.

Flying Lotus - Until The Quiet Comes

Warp Records: 2012

Probably not the best album to get one’s ears wet with Flying Lotus, this. Even in his modest outings, the dude takes a rather challenging approach to his beat work and song craft, finding confounding ways of manipulating conventional funk, hip-hop, soul, and the jazz that fuses them together (say what?). It’s definitely a style that will get you noticed by all the talking-head rags out there, forever eager in discovering and hyping a unique approach to familiar music, and FlyLo fast became a critical darling in the mid-‘00s. By second LP, he was signed to Warp Records, and as the praise steadily increased, so did Mr. Ellison’s desire to challenge himself. Thus we arrive at his fourth album, Until The Quiet Comes, a point when he has nothing left to prove to anyone but his own musical ambition. Oh yeah, we’re getting into Serious Artist territory with this one.

Of course, the notion of Flying Lotus getting a pile of Real Musicians in the studio with him first germinated with his previous album, Cosmogramma. That was more a feeling-out process though, taking the abstract-hop and broken funk that defined his earlier work and seeing if it could work in a traditional band setting (well, as traditional as jazz-fusion gets). Those results must have satisfied FlyLo, as he takes things even further here, trying out more genre-fusion, with more musicians in the studio, and more tracks filling out the album! Okay, only one more track, but still, MOAR!

Names returning for this session include Flying Lotus mainstays bassist Thundercat, harpist Rebekah Raff, stringster Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, vocalist Laura Darlington, and Brit-warbler Thom Yorke. Coming in for the Quiet Comes party are keyboardist Austin Peralta, other-keyboardist Brandon Coleman, drummer Jean Coy, and soul-Goddess Eryakah Badu. Geez, how does one top that in a follow-up - a hot contemporary rapper, or an actual jazz legend on the keyboards? (yep, and FlyLo done did it in You’re Dead!).

And as for the music on Until The Quiet Comes …look, we all know this is the sort of stuff musicians make just to annoy folks who like dancing about architecture [citation needed]. I can tell you that Tiny Tortures has a minimalist, blippy thing going on, or that The Nightcaller stomps out the spaced-out P-funk vibes, or that Phantasm oozes and creeps about in dreamy psychedelic-pop, but how helpful are such descriptors in a record such as this? Tracks come and go at such an erratic, rapid pace; few have much chance of sinking in before you’re trying to peel the musical layers of the next tune. Some pieces thematically meld together so well, you won’t even notice a clutch of tracks have played past, whereas others shift tones so suddenly it’ll give your cochlea whiplash.

I do come back to Until The Quiet Comes every so often, just to hear if I can pick out any additional nuance that slipped by before. Should casual music listening be such like homework, though?

Symmetry - Themes For An Imaginary Film

Italians Do It Better: 2012

What might this little item be, sitting so coolly in the CD shelves? Looks like an anonymous act going by the name of Symmetry, using vintage red SSD LCD font, offering up music for a motion picture that only exists in the imagination of the musician creating said pieces. And we have a hot dashboard for a hot car, cruising a hot dusk leading into a hot night. If that don’t get my retro synth senses tingling, then I haven’t been paying attention to this hot, little synthwave genre developing over the past few years. Not that this album has much to do with that particular scene, Themes For An Imaginary Film having a far more nuanced story behind it than your typical synthwaver inspired by Jan Hammer and John Carpenter. Come, pour yourself a mug of rum-n-nog, gather round the digital hearth, fire up a Yule Log YouTube, as I tell the tale of Themes For An Imaginary Film.

Themes For An Imaginary Film comes care of Johnny Jewel, he of the Italians Do It Better label, a print that made its name peddling retro disco and synth-pop for a modern era. He’s also helmed a number of groups within said label, including Glass Candy, Chromatics, and Desire, building quite the rep’ as one of Los Angeles’ foremost tastemakers. No small feat given the cutthroat nature of Tinseltown’s entertainment industry, but it was enough to get him a foot in the door of Hollywood’s music scene, landing his output a few licensing deals along the way. Johnny Jewel though, he aspired for more – nothing less than scoring a complete film would satisfy his drive.

Say, what’s this, a movie called Drive is in need of a soundtrack with a synth-poppy retro sound? Johnny Jewel can do that absolutely! Oh, wait, they already got a composer, industry man Cliff Martinez - they only want a couple songs from you instead (one Desire, one Chromatics). Aw, but ol’ Johnny already made a bunch of tunes for potential use in your indie movie about cool-bad guys doing cool-bad things with cool-bad cars, a double-LP’s worth in fact! Well, save it for your own use then, maybe release it separately under a new guise like Equipoise or Synergism.

At 2CDs in length, I’d say Themes For An Imaginary Film is a lot to chew on, except many of these thirty-six tracks come off like half-formed background pieces. A few hold their own as individual works of moody electro (City Of Dreams, Blood Sport), cinematic synth-pop (Jackie’s Eyes, Streets Of Fire) and reflective ambience (Hall Of Mirrors, Ghost Town). For the most part though, these are pure score fodder, interstitial music bridging moments between dialog. Still, with a little refinement and culling, I can definitely hear how these could have been used as an alternate soundtrack to Drive.

As for Johnny Jewel, he’d finally get his scoring break with the crime drama series Those Who Kill, and last year’s flim Lost River. Perseverance!

E-Mantra - Silence

Altar Records: 2012

A decade past, when Israeli full-on was dominating the psy market, a few plucky producers started taking the scene back to its goa roots. Naturally, this tickled the fancy of old schoolers bemoaning the commercialized fate of their cherished music, but the revisited sounds of crunchy acid and Indian tonal scales never led much of resurgence. Still, it was enough for fans of vintage goa that anything of the sort was welcomed, giving high praise to the likes of Khetzal, Ra… really, anything released on the Suntrip Records print.

E-Mantra is among that label’s consistent acts, plying his trade among the compilation market before making his debut in 2009 with Arcana. For a goa trance record in the modern era, it was received well enough, and anticipation was high for a follow-up. So of course Mr. Carpus took a left-turn towards the realms of psy-chill for his sophomore effort, releasing Visions From The Past on the fledgling Altar Records in 2011. It… wasn’t met with quite the same enthusiasm, but hey, that proper goa trance album everyone was expecting (Pathfinder) surfaced later the same year, so no harm no foul. Undaunted by that lackluster reaction to his sojourn into downtempo, E-Mantra released another such album with Altar the following year, Silence. And again the year after that, Echoes From The Void. And again after that, Raining Lights, with just one additional goa album in all that time (Nemesis… ooh, I think I see what he did there!). E-Mantra now has more psy-chill records under his belt than goa CDs, a development I’m sure almost no one expected while hailing him as one of neo-goa’s champions. Maybe that was Mr. Carpus’ plan all along!

Coincidentally, these repeated ventures into the domain of psy-chill has made E-Mantra one of Altar Records’ core acts. I never intended to hold out checking his work on DJ Zen’s print, as I reasonably liked his scattered material on the label’s compilations. Just another one of those ‘I’ll get to it once exhausting all the super-sexy looking options’; it happens. As for why I picked up Silence in particular, it was for no better reason than I was in a blue, underwater mood while sifting through Altar’s material, and got everything that fit the oceanic theme I was vibing on. I’m jonesing for that Water compilation review just as much as everyone else, yo’!

Silence is definitely a stronger offering of psy-chill than E-Mantra’s first venture into the genre, Mr. Carpus finding a firm footing within its style and tropes than simply slowing down his goa sounds (alleged complaint of his first). There’s pleasing, flowing melodies (Since You Were Gone, Shadow Skies), groovy dub-heavy numbers (Ecouri, Night Walker, Prelude), pure ambient pieces(Passing Through), and amalgamations of all three (Touching). Samples, tasteful. Songcraft, skillful. Excessive wibble, nonexistent. Yep, Silence has everything I’d look for in a psy-chill album. Just wish it stuck in my head better after it plays. It’s frustrating when some music ends up like that.

Halgrath - Out Of Time

Cryo Chamber: 2012

See, that was a decent little gap between Cryo Chamber releases, at least a week’s worth of time before returning to the dark ambient label once more. The Dread Year 2016, however, demands no less than two morbid musical offerings on my homepage at all times, and woe be unto thee who dare besmirch the Dread Year’s decree. All this suffering I’ve endured throughout the month of November? ‘Tis my penance for indulging a Summer Of Trance, seeking epic uplifting refuge from our dire times. Thus I will not taunt moody serious 2016 any longer, keeping as steady a stream of dark ambient as need be. I mean, I can’t afford to lose hearing in both ears, now can I?

Halgrath (or Agratha Mirrait, if you wish) was one of the earliest additions to Cryo Chamber after Simon Heath launched the label in 2012, back when the print was mostly a means of self-releasing Sabled Sun and Atrium Carceri material. Makes sense Mr. Heath would invite Ms. Mirrait over, as they both were featured on Cold Meat Industry before that seminal dark ambient label folded. In fact, Halgrath’s Arise Of Fallen Conception was among Cold Meat’s final releases. There’s a ‘from death, comes rebirth’ metaphor here, I just know it. Comes with this scene no matter where you go.

Out Of Time marks Halgrath’s debut with Cryo, featuring the sort of dark ambient I’d long associated with the genre as its default stylee. There’s bleak droning pieces (Down, Here, He Led Me Through The Dark Caverns), noisy industrial sonic attacks (Dark Dusty Corner, Lethal Injection, The Resistance), and meditative compositions drawing upon the occult for inspiration (Horoathea Mass Of Aegorath, Deep Underwater).

This last one makes sense hearing on this album, Halgrath having a background in opera – exploring aspects of Dark Ritual is part her whole manifesto. I mean, if an opening track of Summoning Of The Goddess wasn’t enough of a clue, I don’t know what to tell you. I was honestly surprised Out Of Time didn’t have more of that ethereal ambient going for it, offering more variety within its twelve tracks than most dark ambient projects offer in their whole discographies. We even get cinematic orchestral pieces (Follow Eternity, The Light Of The Earth’s Spheres) and melancholic piano dirges (We’ll Go Through Sorrow, Holding Each Others Hands). Pretty sure that’s every sub-category dark ambient indulges in, save outright nightmare-inducing field recordings, though I’m sure Halgrath could do that too if she wanted.

Out Of Time isn’t really the album for that. Seems the themes explored here are about souls lost in limbo, wandering between life and death, uncertain of where their hearts pull forthwith. Or is it about those who’d use a ritual to journey within limbo itself? Such is the narrative I get as this album plays out, each piece another step in going deeper into the nether-realms beyond our own. Aw, it ain’t that bad on this side, is it? *2016 lurks over shoulder*

Perturbator - Night Driving Avenger

Blood Music: 2012/2015

The debut EP from Perturbator, self-released way back in ye olde age of early 2012 (before the dark times… before the Orange Emperor). Naturally, when Blood Music started reissuing his back-catalog, they went to bat with multiple limited-edition coloured records, a standard digipak CD, but no tape for this outing. Huh, guess that collector’s scene isn’t as obsessive as others if they can’t be bothered with singles. Why, back in my day, when tapes were all I could afford, I bought singles, absolutely. Okay, only a few – Bad Boys Blue’s Go Go (Love Overload), Intermission’s Piece Of My Heart, and 2 Unlimited’s Maximum Overdrive - but the market was there even in the waning days of commercial cassettes, so surely it exists in these waxing days of novelty cassettes. I’m honestly surprised Blood Music didn’t offer up a tape option for at least Night Driving Avenger.

I’ve also realized, despite having written three reviews of the chap, I haven’t delved much into James Kent’s pre-Perturbator fame. Right, there isn’t much to tell, but I’ve gotta’ burn some word count with a fresh angle, so here’s a few tidbits. He played guitar in various metal bands prior to adopting synths, which I can definitely hear in the way he constructs his tracks (lots of half-time bridges, which metal adores) - finally that Blood Music tie-in makes sense. His pop’s also apparently a well-known rock scribe, Nick Kent having written about punk music during that scene’s rise during the ‘70s, and publishing articles in all manner of respected rags (NME, Spin… Guardian?). Seems the Elder Kent also got into scuffles with some of punk’s icons, including Sid Vicious and Adam Ant. Hm, does this mean if James wants to live up to his father’s legacy, he’s gotta’ get it on with Simon Reynolds or Philip Sherburne? Okay, that’s enough.

Night Driving Avenger is a handy little primer into what the Perturbator style generally entails, each track touching upon his various types of songs. Opener Grim Heart does the moody, cinematic build, the sort of music you’d expect of credit sequence at the start of an ‘80s pulp film. Electric Dreams goes slower, synthier, and introspective. The titular cut ups the tempo into a pulse-pounding action thrill ride, and Miami Sunsets brings it all together into synth-pop’s realm as our hero/heroine rides off into a neon-soaked boulevard. Oh, plus a charming chiptune cover of Flock Of Seagull’s I Ran, called I Ran To The Arcade. Cute.

What isn’t cute, however, is the mastering on this EP. Dear Lord, but is there ever a lot of muddy side-chaining, with no dynamics to speak of. I know much of Perturbator’s music is generally brickwalled, but it usually adds to the gritty dystopian nature of his tunes. Not here though, the Young Kent clearly still figuring his way around production. Rather remarkable, then, he got the knack of it so quickly with later releases. Shame Blood Music didn’t give Night Driving Avenger a remaster though.

Perturbator - I Am The Night

Blood Music: 2012/2015

The second album from Perturbator, and the dawning realization he could take his hot synthwave action out of the slummy homage backstreets, and into the brazen neon-glow of concept LPs. It wasn’t long either, I Am The Night coming out the same year as his debut full-length Terror 404. Throw in an additional three EPs, and you’re looking at one highly fruitful 2012 for Mr. Kent, further remarkable considering a lot of this was self-released. Strong buzz generated more than enough demand for something physical though, and Blood Music keeps coming through in latex-covered spades (um, ew?). This album saw two vinyl represses in 2015, plus another one this year, not to mention the various limited edition cassette versions. Oh, and a digipak CD as well. Yay! Kinda’ makes this either woefully neglected, or ridiculously scarce. Hey, remember when tapes held that status? Fun times.

While the idea of Perturbator as a night driving avenger first appeared in the Night Driving Avenger single, it fully crystallizes here with I Am The Night. There’s a world inside Mr. Kent’s mind, one he must release from his imagination and sent free-wheeling into your earholes and brain matter. Where the future is near, the streets are crime, and the rulers are wicked. Fortunately for the uninitiated, this album does offer a few pieces of dialog helping set the stage for Perturbator’s retro future-shock vision, including an opening piece called The New Black that sounds like it was cribbed from Robocop. It’s in fact Network, a 1976 movie that rather accurately predicted the cable news of this dire year of 2016. Say, just how far into the future did Perturbator intend these synthwave chronicles to be?

I Am The Night isn’t quite as focused on a specific narrative as future Perturbator records are, but it more than makes up for it in variety of tuneage. This is easily the most melodic of all his albums I’ve thus far reviewed, with shimmering synths aplenty throughout. Eclipse has a scorcher of a soaring riff, the titular cut sounds like it aped the ‘twinkle prog’ synths for a track wonderfully contrasted with a thumping low end, and Deviance with Arcade High is all kinds of retro chipper. Then there’s the pure synth-pop songs - ballads like Naked Tongues and Desire featuring vocalists, or beatless instrumental pieces like interlude Nexus Six and closer The Price Of Failure benefiting an actual movie for these to score. Throw in your mint pulse-pounding Perturbator cuts like Retrogenesis, Technoir, and Raining Steel, and you’ve got solid album covering all your synthwave needs.

If that’s still not enough, a few bonus tracks at the end round things out, including a collaboration with Dynatron in Volcanic Machinery - it’s surprisingly not as moody as you’d expect of these two working together. Meanwhile, Lilith’s rhythm almost sounds like futurepop (ooh, think of that pairing!), while slow-jam Girl In A Black Dress features a digital saxophone. Surprisingly comes off better than most saxophone recordings from the ‘80s.

Akshan - The Tree Of Life

Altar Records: 2012

When exactly did Altar Records get their break? Was there positive buzz right from inception? They certainly had enough talent on hand to give them a solid foundation, though much of it was on loan from established prints, names that had already made a mark elsewhere. Truth is when I browse through the label’s early catalog, I don’t see many standout releases beyond the key acts that went on to become staples (AstroPilot, E-Mantra, DJ Zen ‘natch). I didn’t come around to Altar until way late, and most folks I knew didn’t either. Something had to be that trigger though, a catalyst in gaining more eyes beyond early adopters. Seems this debut from Akshan is often pointed towards as one such contender, an album catching the ears of many who’d never even heard of Altar before. Looking at other releases from the label about that time (Solar Walk 2, When Mars Meets Venus, Silence, Fruits Of Imagination re-up), yeah, I suspect mid-2012 gave a good bump for the boys from Quebec.

Akshan more commonly goes by the name of Vincent Grenier, but Lord Discogs doesn’t give much more information than that. Nor does it reveal any prior work to this one, The Tree Of Life not only his debut record on Altar, but debut period. He apparently spent some time honing his craft in the years prior though, a practice that paid off when he finally struck a deal with Altar. For if this LP truly is his first offerings made available to the public, The Tree Of Life is a darn slick first impression. I’d expect nothing less of someone stating Ultimae as an influence.

Mr. Grenier also states Juno Reactor as an act taken cues from. I can hear that, Akshan leaning rather tribal compared to Altar’s usual fare, though not in any overt manner. Tracks like Jungle Fever and Back To The Origin mostly stick to the widescreen prog-psy stylee Altar consistently dishes out, but throws in more sounds and rhythms that recall some of Ben Watkins’ heavier moments. Elsewhere, Adagio For The Braves has a breakdown that features the famous Chief Joseph “I will fight no more forever” speech, though not to as great effect as Peyote’s use of it if I’m honest. Still, that melody after… damn…

As for the rest of The Tree Of Life, it’s an Altar Records album. Um, I’m not sure what else to say beyond that. Most tracks follow a similar template of moody, ambient build, establish a slow n’ steady prog pulse, grow in intensity with subtle swirly, trancey sounds, finally peaking out with a lengthy, cinematic piece at the end. Angels Never Cry has spritely melodies, Symphonic Tendencies indulges the acid along with orchestral swells, Eternity uses stuttering voice pads, and final track Waiting For You features an extended symphonic denouement. There honestly isn’t much variation between tracks but if you fancy your prog-psy and chill with a melancholic flavor, you’ll definitely enjoy The Tree Of Life.

Perturbator - Terror 404

Blood Music: 2012/2015

Perturbator made his label debut with I Am The Night on Aphasia Records, but around the same time he also self-released this, Terror 404. I’m not sure why Lueur Verte passed on this one, especially since much of the French print’s early output centered around the James Kent project. Did neither feel it worthy of the proper-label treatment? Rather odd if so, considering the realms of digital distribution has very little upkeep, and even less quality control. And even at this early stage of his career, Perturbator was showing signs of being a cyborg titan of the synthwave movement, so why not flood your fledgling label with his material? On the other hand, perhaps Mr. Kent had enough of a built-up pre-following that he could release a ‘proper’ album, plus an additional one on his own in the same year without spreading his material too thin. Considering he also put out three singles in 2012, that’s one Hell of an official debut in the world of music.

In any case, it doesn’t matter whether Terror 404 or I Am The Night got the nod on Aphasia, as both were re-issued on Blood Music this past year, in all the limited edition, ultra collectible formats you can handle (and burn money on if you’re a hardcore completist). The black vinyl, the red vinyl, the blue vinyl, and the clear with blood splatter vinyl! The black tape, the red tape, the gold tape, and the… metallic red foil tape? The digipak CD, the… oh, that’s the only format in disc form. What, no super-retro longbox version? Minidisc? Ain’t nothing more hipster than that, yo’.

Probably the biggest difference between Terror 404 and I Am The Night (and latter album Dangerous Days) is the lack of implied narrative in Terror 404. For one, there’s no written blurb giving the listener a specific idea of the album’s theme. Number two, some titles of Terror 404 are lifts of c-grade movies and actors of the ‘80s, with a very specific focus on Scream Queen Linnea Quigley’s work. Thirdly, I’m just filling space here so I can make it to a forced four-oh-four point: Perturbator doesn’t present the tracks as a movie narrative anyway.

Sure, he’s got an Opening Credits, a Nightmare Interlude, and an End Theme (credit roll!). Granted, the whole of Terror 404 plays out as a strong album of tunes regardless of cinematic themes. Yes, there’s a sweet assortment of punchy, crunchy synthwave (Terror 404, Savage Streets, X-Calibr8, Shadow Force ‘84, The Darkest Alley), peppy, hi-NRG synth-pop (Payback Pursuit, Linnea Quigley Horror Workout, John Holmes VHS Nightclub), and slower, reflective tunes (Mirage, End Theme). One can easily glean a consistent theme throughout, an homage to the ghetto cinema of the ‘80s. And Terror 404 is great for that aspect alone. Compared to Dangerous Days though, where Mr. Kent crafted a fully-realized cinematic experience, this album’s a touch behind. As it is an earlier effort from the Night Driving Avenger, what would you expect?

Imploded View - Picnics With Pylons

Psychonavigation Records: 2012

Another day, another ultra-obscure Irish producer with an album on Psychonavigation Records. How obscure this time? Lord Discogs has nadda’ on Imploded View. No real name for the alias, no brief words regarding what the project’s about, not even a bloomin’ photo for the man. There are links to his Facebook, Twitter, and Bandcamp though, but you’ll find even less helpful background on the chap, one of the blurbs proudly proclaiming “Reluctantly/Happily testing the bounds of obscurity.” Hell, the only reason I have any notion that Imploded View is a dude is the inlay of this digipak has a picture of someone in silhouette that appears to be male. Not that it confirms anything, as any sex can rock the ‘short hair, oval head, high collar’ look. However, when someone refers to Imploded View as ‘Jerome’ on the Twoism.org forums, I’m gonna’ go with my hunch that it’s a He we’re dealing with. Only the finest journalistic sleuthing on this blog, yo’!

If the purposeful enigmatic persona, faded photographic cover art, and Twoism.org association weren’t clues enough, Imploded View is also another Psychonavigation Records artist that’s feeling the Boards of Canada vibe. Fortunately, it’s not quite as blatant as Ciaran Byrne’s Nine Lives Causeway was, the music here sounding distinct enough that you wouldn’t mistake it for a long-lost tape from the Scottish duo. For instance, the track Boring Robot has a way-laidback groove coupled with childlike charm and snippets of unintelligible voices – sounds like BoC’s Roygbiv, don’t it? Mr. View, however, adds a thick layer of morning-glow pad, as strained a metaphor as any I can come up with, but oddly apt. It’s like, Roygbiv is the track you hear before you head out on the night, and Boring Robot is the hazy recollection of that track come dawn.

That’s what listening to Picnics With Pylons is like, hearing tunes that vaguely remind you of Boards Of Canada, but through the murk of many years later. Which makes total sense considering the undeniable impact BoC’s had on producers fancying nostalgic downtempo analog jams. Not to be left out of the memory-fuzz stylee, a couple of these have that desolate, urban squalor Burial made his namesake too (Astral Airways, Snowflake Bentley). Others find their own, quirky path without any immediate signifiers, like the crisp beatcraft of Across the Snow, or the cinematic flourishes of trip-hoppin’ We Ivy. Or my limited experience in the field of ‘obvious Boards Of Canada musicks is obvious’ has left a gap in recognizing other notable names I should be droppin’.

Whether this makes Imploded View different enough for you to check out Picnics With Pylons out, that’s all up to you. Yeah, not the most winning endorsement there, and despite the unique things I’ve detailed, this LP’s ultimately still just another collection of modestly interesting downtempo music from Psychonavigation Records. ‘Jerome’ can craft some pleasant, quirky little numbers here, but as an album, this is but a bit of ephemeral fluff. Yes, fancy simile score!

Dao Da Noize - Kalam

Psychonavigation Records: 2012

Thirty albums in a half-decade? Hell, that's just what Lord Discogs lists as official LPs. Another twenty ‘Miscellaneous’ items fill out Dao Da Noize's discography thus far, mostly tapes and extremely-limited CDr offerings. Oddly, Kalam is included in this category, though I've no idea why. Pyschonavigation Records isn't some ultra-obscure print operating out of a Winnebago in the New Mexico desert. It's a semi-obscure label with a Dublin office drawing in ambient techno producers and IDM-leaning artists like a '90s throwback singularity. Yeah, Kalam is also a limited-run CD, but so are ninety-percent of niche genre releases now.

Clearly then, the man behind Dao Da Noize, Artem Pismenetskii, is something of a Merzbow or Muslimegauze sort, an endless source of noisy experimental music. Glancing through what Lord Discogs has on his releases (you just know there’s more thus far not entered), he has an interest in sounds from across Asia. Early work from the ye’ olde year of 2011 featured quite a few Japanese inspired productions, with a slow sojourn towards the West as time’s passed. Say, maybe he’s retracing the ancient Silk Road like Kitaro! He's released on tons of different labels too: Dark Meadow Recordings, Palemoon Productions, 4iB Records, Trap Door Tapes, Vomit Bucket Productions, Shit Noise Records, Fuck The Industry, Maniacal Hatred, Autistic Campaign, Sincope, Stront, Smell The Stench, Genetic Trance... I swear Dao Da Noize releases one thing on some backwater print, then moves on to another. Who knows how Psychonavigation Records fits into this. Maybe label head Keith Downey is a fan.

By the by, that Muslimgauze namedrop is an intentional, if awkward segue into Kalam, Mr. Pismenetskii stating it a deliberate tribute to the late Bryn Jones (he of an insane amount of output within a fifteen year timespan). Though Muslimgauze wasn’t Muslim, he did focus his muse on the sounds of Arabia (especially Palestine), overdubbing samples and recordings of the region into all manner of crusty beats, layered drone, noisy effects, and Middle Eastern tributes.

As such, Dao Da Noize gets right into it with Kalam I, tablas clunking away, distant chants in the background, and an ear-piercing attack of white noise distortion and bass dub bombs overwhelming your senses. Guess that’s what it’s like living in a war torn region. Kalam II, at twenty minutes in length, reuses many of the same elements as the first, though takes its time in developing, mostly going for dubbed-out trippiness for a while before bringing the tablas back in. The finish is more urgent in pacing, but subdued in tone. A shorter Kalam III throws in more industrial noise and children laughter, then Kalam IV grows dark and moody, very little percussion used. It’s also twenty-five minutes long, so if you like your eerie ethnic dub, you’ll dig this one.

I was surprised I liked Kalam as much as I did. Hell, when I first threw it on, I had no idea what to expect. Such fun adventures of discovery, these label splurges are.

AstroPilot - Fruits Of The Imagination 2

Altar Records: 2012

A ‘revisiting’ of an album half a decade after the fact isn’t so daft. Artists grow as they continue making music, evolving their craft as they adopt new styles and techniques into their repertoire. And if any record out of AstroPilot’s discography deserved another look, it’s Fruits Of The Imagination. For one thing, it was released on Avatar Records, and Mr. Redko had long since made a home for himself on Altar Records. With each passing year, that first album grows more difficult to find on the regular markets, and he very well can’t grab the rights back from Avatar for a reissue on Altar. Okay, maybe he can eventually, but in the meantime, how about that ‘revisit’ concept to tide things over? Most of the original’s elements can be used again, and this time given the once-over with learned skills and adopted genres.

For instance, there really wasn’t much prog-psy on Fruits Of The Imagination Prime. That album was sort of a blend of world beat and psy dub, with a few visits into breaks and psy along the way. Five years pass, and AstroPilot has shown himself very adept at breaks and psy (ambient too), and he’s beefed up everything to reflect that. Structurally, they’re still mostly the same tracks, but there’s more detail to his music now, beats more dynamic and timbre more expansive. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it dates his first album, but it does sound more basic and unrefined compared to Fruits Of The Imagination 2. For folks getting into AstroPilot’s music in the here and now, this is probably the better option for a purchase. And if you already have Fruits Of The Imagination The First, Mr. Redko entices a secondary purchase with a new, unreleased track called Asian Express, a floaty bit of ethnic flavored prog-house as heard from the way-before days of the ‘90s. Okay, so maybe that isn’t so tempting for a wholesale re-splurge. ‘Tis a nice bonus for us late adopters though.

Oh hey, I haven’t even detailed any of the actual tracks here, have I? Silly me, providing comparisons between two albums all the while assuming y’all have heard one or the other. Hell, this is all assuming it’s AstroPilot fans reading this to boot. Come to think of it, I’m taking a leap of faith on figuring folks even know or care much about the psy-chill scene to begin with, what with dropping genre tags and label names. Why, someone reading this could very well not even be into electronic music, only here hoping for another dalliance into hip-hop or rock music. Help, I’ve fallen into some sort of perspective pit!

Sorry for that. Truth is Fruits Of The Imagination, in either form, isn’t the most exciting AstroPilot album to talk about. He skillfully hits the standard tropes of psy-chill word-beat prog (etc.), with 2 being the obviously more polished version of the two. Some may prefer the older’s rougher edge though.

Arpatle - The Day After

Psychonavigation Records: 2012

Look, when I said my trawl of Psychonavigation Records' blowout sale would reveal some super obscure producers, I meant it. Wait, did I say that? I can't remember now. That big purchase was many months ago, with so much more having arrived in my towers since. My initial fears of an over-abundance of the Ireland label's material in my current backlog queue is moot, plenty more albums breaking up any potential monotony. Not that the albums I did get are redundant retreads of the same sounds, oh no! I'm amazed just how diverse Psychonavigation's proving to be, and that's including me totally ignoring all the shoegaze rock stuff. Maybe a little chillwave though.

Then, our obscure artist for the day is Patrick Bossink, or Arpatle to those buying his music. You might remember him from the Psychonavigation compilation Psychonavigation Sampler 2013, and the cassette Ik En Jij, Allebei from Yoshimi!. Oh come on, there’s no way you’ve heard that one. Maybe one of Arpatle’s other albums though, Continuum from 2009 on Family Garden Recordings, or the recently released Quapi on Offshoot Records. The Day After is the LP lodged between those two in his discography, and I’m really struggling with the background details of this guy, aren’t I? It’s the entire internet’s fault, hopelessly scarce in info surrounding him. Lord Discogs just has him down as an ambient producer from Holland. His website has even less info than that, merely a window to his releases on various online platforms. At least Mr. Bossink wrote a few more lines for his Last.fm biography, mentioning he’s been studying Music and Technologies at the Utrecht School Of Arts. Yeah, The Day After totally has the markings of an arts student.

If anything, Arpatle loves treating the studio as a mini symphony, utilizing unconventional tones, sounds, and instruments in crafting his music. Opener Solstitium has something of a Far East thing going for it, but uses an xylophone (or some mallet instrument, I’m no expert) for its lead, then goes into an extended dubbed-out excursion in the middle before returning to the twee melodies. Follow-up Crickets nabs some field recordings of nocturnal critters (I hear more frogs than crickets), then goes for a minimalist excursion through dubby tones and treatments. Third track goes drone with its effects, though has a chipper country mood about it, as though we’re riding along some Western setting on our horses. On acid.

To abstract, you know those interlude moments on Future Sound Of London albums, where they indulge themselves with sonic collages and experimental doodling? That’s what much of The Day After sounds like, though tighter in composition. Some tracks, like shoegazey Arctic Trip and the lush ambience of Wake Me Up, are quite the treat for the ears. Others, like ultra-minimalist Headache and spacious Satie’s Birthday (so much space!), instead come off as Arpatle having some art-house fun in his studio. It’s all quite pleasant, though lacking musical muscle to stay lodged in your head for long.

AstroPilot - Star Walk

Altar Records: 2012

This was the album that got me digging for more AstroPilot. Not because I heard a few tracks off here and concluded Mr. Redko’s jib satisfied my cravings, oh no. That was the case from the few tracks I’d heard on compilations. On a whim though, I fired up the Canadian Amazons to dig for anything on the cheap, and lo’ there were several AstroPilot CDs at reasonable pricing and stock. Of course, his home is Altar Records, a local label (nationally speaking) and thus keeping all those nasty shipping costs well reasonable for yours truly.

And man, did Star Walk come reasonably, with a supposed theme and artwork that I couldn’t resist. Walking on stars? An emblazoned sky filled with the massive fusion factories? Why, this must be what the view within a globular cluster is like! AstroPilot is now officially awesome and, holy cow, look at all those other albums. There’s even a Solar Walk here. Say, is this some kind of series? Is Star Walk a sequel, then? I better buy up these other ones just to be sure.

Turns out Star Walk isn’t a sequel of any sort - Solar Walk already has two of those anyway. Rather, this is a remix album, which confused me for a while. First, because I didn’t even realize it was a remix album, and couldn’t figure out why Miktek was appearing on here, much less various versions of a couple tracks. Yeah, total rookie mistake. Commence with the guffawings.

After that bout of puzzlement lasting all of four hours, another one has persisted ever since: was there really a need for a remix album of AstroPilot’s Solar Walk series? It’s almost entirely focused on droning ambient, a genre that’s either impossible to remix, or lazily restructured as a track with a standard beat added. Not that the music we get with Star Walk is bunk or anything – it’s exceptional as most AstroPilot albums usually are. Nor do I feel unsatisfied, gyped, or cheated in having this, nothing on here coming off redundant or pointlessly wasting my precious listening minutes in a day. What am I even complaining about? I should be elated for more AstroPilot, not ultra nitpicky. Damn this ‘electronic music critic’ precedent I’ve set for myself.

The only complaint I can have is the source material didn’t come across as intended for remix treatment, where mood and tone were the prevailing attributes over hooky melodies. As great of tracks like God’s Channel, In The Middle, Hidden Planet and Between are, I’m hard-pressed in recalling specifics, and hearing variations of them didn’t spark the memory either. Thus, when I play Star Walk, I’m hearing these tracks as they’re presented in this album, not as different versions of existing tunes. That defeats the point of a remix album in my eyes, but again, that’s just being nitpicky for its own sake. All said, I prefer Star Walk to Solar Walk, though Solar Walk 2 remains tops for this series.

AstroPilot - Solar Walk 2

Altar Records: 2012

Much better than the first! Not that Solar Walk was bunk, but you hope a sequel improves upon a concept’s successful attributes. It’s always a crap shoot though, some efforts simply retreading the same music with slight variations to warrant the sequel tag. Other times there’s almost no common link between the two, the repeated use of a title nothing more than capitalizing on brand recognition. Given AstroPilot’s comparatively small market penetration, however, I highly doubt the latter is the case here. Nay, it’s all the more likely Solar Walk turned into a suitable outlet for his ambient and chill-out productions, and retaining a series title for those productions helps clue listeners that, yes indeed, that’s what you’re in for heading in. If you prefer AstroPilot on the uptempo take, you’d best not bother with any edition of Solar Walk.

No, wait, Solar Walk 2 does bring the beats too. Well, about as ‘beatrific’ as a dedicated chill-out album can go, but this is AstroPilot we’re talking about here, a chap who can make a brisk BPM cut sound as calm as any piece of meditative ambient drone. Hell, there’s one such track on here with Patterns Of Awareness (also the longest tune at nearly fifteen minutes in length). Another one is Betelgeuse, the second longest cut on Solar Walk 2 at twelve-point-five minutes, and employing a dynamic bit of escalating rhythm at that, the sort that could work as the climax on a standard tempo album of psy-chill and dub music. And here’s Mr. Redko dropping one on a CD supposedly dedicated to ambient space music. Even the first Solar Walk never got this intense with its lone prog-psy detour.

Ambient is what Solar Walk aims to showcase though, and ambient is what we get in droves. In terms of style, AstroPilot retains the maximal approach to the craft, layering pads and effects with such intensity, it sometimes feels like you’re being crushed by their immense, droning sonics. Yet nothing ever comes off overbearing or harsh, as though this foreboding cosmic plane envelopes and embraces your being rather than pulverizes your sanity with feelings of endless isolation. Whoa, I’m getting way deep here, aren’t I?

If this all sounds similar to the sort of ambient AstroPilot composed in Solar Walk, it is, but it’s also much more well produced too. There’s more separation and space between the multiple layers of sound, such that it’s easier to focus on distinct sounds and timbre should you so choose. There’s also more sense of progression within the tracks themselves, less emphasis on supplying heavy drone for indeterminate time. Instead, the sparse melodic ideas help paint a richer sonic canvas, allowing one’s imagination greater immersion for all your space travel needs. Finally, Solar Walk 2 isn’t continuously mixed, which greatly helps in taking in individual pieces as distinct forms from each other. It’s a small thing, but it’s easier to enjoy ambient when you’re not second-guessing if you’re dealing with a different composition.

Tiga - Non Stop

Different: 2012

Hard to believe it was a full decade before Tiga released another standalone mix CD onto the market. After a trio of solid sets on his own label Turbo, and a stellar offering to DJ-Kicks, the Montreal native seemed primed to become one of the top jocks on the market. Then he discovered an innate talent at producing pseudo-pop music for a savvy clubbing audience, and he's hardly looked back since. He still did the DJ circuit, but it wasn't where his hype focused on, letting his artist albums do the talking for him instead. Thus, the only mix CD to his name between DJ-Kicks and this is a double-disc joint effort with Adrian Thomas called inthemix.05, which I assume is associated with the Australian website of the same name? Doesn't matter, since it's essentially a forgotten set compared to American Gigolo and Montreal Mix Sessions, and way overshadowed by all the quirky singles he was putting out during the mid-'00s.

Back to the heavyweight CD-mix jam we've ended up though, which can only signify one thing for Mr. Sontag: career reinvention! C'mon, it's how this story always goes. Trendy tastemaker makes mark on club scene with definitive DJ mixes, sustains a lengthy career with the sound, sound falls out of favor, jump on a fresher sound to stay relevant. Or, if incredibly uncanny, manages to create a new sound all on his/her own, but I doubt even Tiga could do that. Nay, he's instead fallen in with some of the biggest festival headliners around these last few years, like Boys Noize and the Mad Decent posse. Wait... he already was pals with them, back when he was the star and they were getting their breaks. Okay, never mind, this theory's the bunk.

In reality, Non Stop is nothing less than a statement on where Tiga's musical influences currently resides. Not a terribly adventurous concept then, but considering it's been such a long time since he gave us anything in a physical form, I'll take it. Like many of his sets from the past, Mr. Sontag is fearless in throwing various genres and styles into his mix, often using transitional snippets and blending tracks together for mash-ups ranging from cheeky to thrilling. Past attempts were often rather rough though, vinyl technology just not up to snuff in providing studio-perfect blends. Not so with Non Stop, every mix and layering sounding effortless and smooth – thanks, studio hands! Some might quibble it detracts from the sort of spontaneous, on-the-fly set Tiga's been known for, but I contend such tinkering only perfects the musical journey he's always taken folks on.

The music itself runs the gamut from warped AFX acid to bumpin’ Adam Marshall tech-house to tribal Lula Circus funk to thumpin’ Blawan techno, and proto-trance Homeboy-Hippie-FunkiDredd old-school rave. Yes, in that order, with all the gradual changes in tempo and genres that comes with it. Non Stop is a fun mix, all said, but then you’d expect nothing less from Tiga.

Sabled Sun - 2145

Cryo Chamber: 2012

It took him nearly three years to do it, but Simon Heath finally released the next chapter in his Sabled Sun story, 2147. But wait, there's still the first album in this series, 2145! I should go back to that one first and get the whole picture, eh? Like, would you read Foundation by skipping Prelude? The Lord Of The Rings by skipping Fellowship? The Thrawn Trilogy by skipping Heir To The Empire? Nah, guy, you do things proper-like and read/hear things from the beginning. So to it then.

As 2145 is the opener to the Sabled Sun setting, it’s only appropriate there’s an Intro. Here, a nameless protagonist wakes up from a cryo’ sleep, providing a brief, haggard narration detailing the health conditions that led him taking such drastic measures. Finally having the reality of his environment settle in, he remarks with abject incomprehension, “You know, I imagined waking up not in any kind of utopia – not so naive – but at least something. I mean, I figured things were bad before... but this? ...what happened?” What indeed.

Heath is never explicit in the details, but track titles do provide some hints.This Is Where The World Ends, Singularity, Silo, Date Expired, Shattered, A New Sun and Acid Rain are such examples, with a few vague ones like The Ancient, Retina, and The Hideout thrown in for good measure. Or these could be references to the world we now find ourselves in, the historical events that led to the downfall of civilization forever lost. The music never explicitly details anything either – we are dealing with a dark ambient project, so our references are mood and conjecture, leaving things to interpretation. It's like an album full of those transitional bits from The FSOL's Dead Cities.

As for the music itself, it’s suitably sombre and bleak. Most tracks run relatively brief for the genre, seldom ever droning on for more than necessary (if you’re after that, check out the Signals spin-off). Some tracks focus more on melody, others on sound effects and immersion, all retaining a gritty, future-shock tone, though not so heavy on the sci-fi ‘scapes as the follow-up 2146 went. I found a few of the latter tracks growing redundant with this album’s theme, though the elegy Acid Rain near the end definitely puts a proper, reflective capper on what was lost in this future world.

The final track though, Transmission/Outro ...damn. A menacing, escalating drone with spits of static reminds you just how desolate the world now is, no chance of recovery, no light at the end. Then the nameless protagonist from the intro returns, sending a desperate plea to anyone who might hear him, even into space. “Humanity’s last testament, a lonely voice in the cosmos.” He wonders if intelligences beyond might discover some trace of what we accomplished, or be disgusted that we threw it all away. Then he proclaims that he’s still there, even as his voice is consumed by suffocating static. Defiant to the last.